


In a Rabbit's Hole

by midnightflame



Series: Homecoming [11]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Escape, Falling all over again, M/M, Shiro never stood a chance, This is salvation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-20
Updated: 2017-01-20
Packaged: 2018-09-18 19:25:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9399404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightflame/pseuds/midnightflame
Summary: Standing on the edge of escape, Shiro confronts his future.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Only a few more pieces left to this series. This one is a snapshot moment, more of an interlude but it's something I wanted to write in keeping with some of the themes and goals I have had for this series in general. I hope to have more out later, and once again, thanks for reading!

The alarms are blaring, red lights screaming warning all around them, and at every corner they take, there is another patrol just waiting to drag them both back down again. Stacked, one behind the other, with weapons raised, and at each and every bend, they break them instead. 

One after another, they all fall down. 

Only this time, there is no pounding rush at the back of his head, no words mired in the dark to stain his thoughts. There is only the quick progression of Keith, surefooted, just behind him, at times beside him. Moving seamlessly in time with him as they slip through the hallways towards the escape pods. 

“They should be up around there, right?”

Shiro nods, stepping closer to Keith as they press themselves flat against the wall. He holds a finger up to his lips, and as another guard passes, slips out soundlessly behind it before disabling it with a quick and clean cut through its neck. The body falls to the floor with an electric hum, its dying breath. Shiro doesn’t wait for the sound to expire before he’s pulling Keith around the corner and dashing down the corridor once more. 

He knows that just around the next turn, their exit will be waiting for them. And for one moment, Shiro is almost grateful for his memories because, for the first time in his life since Galra interfered with all that he was, they will free him. Shiro watches as Keith darts out in front of him, taking out another two sentries and leaving their remains short-circuiting by the wayside. 

He’s efficient and clean in the way he fights now, sparking bright and devastating when needed most but always, always glowing. Never a dying ember. Keith is flame, tamed and perfect, no longer the wild conflagration that didn’t know what to do with itself. Only that it burned and burned. 

Keith never fails to remind him that he is alive. 

“Shiro, we’re here!” 

There’s excitement in his voice, and it lures a smile to Shiro’s lips. As they round the corner, an escape pod sits, ready and waiting. The warning lights continue flicker-flashing across the walls, the alarm keeps ringing, but there is nothing else as far as Shiro can see. 

Just them.

He slows to a halt, standing just outside the entryway. Already inside the escape pod, Keith turns to look at him, his expression faltering the moment he catches sight of Shiro. Sudden and sharp and everything despair would make of him. He takes a single step outside of the pod, gripping at the metal rim of the doorway, and as he tilts his head, questioning, Shiro can see the bruises stamped dark across his neck. 

“Keith. . .I. . .” he begins, his fingers wilting back against his palm. 

“No. _No_. Don’t you even start with that, Shiro,” Keith growls, frustrated and desperate. His brow furrows, the light in his eyes sputtering, fear-doused. “We are going home!”

Shiro smiles, this small, fragile thing that tugs at his lips. There are words he wants to say, things he knows that will never be enough to make up for all that he has done, and yet – 

“Don’t look at me like that,” Keith pleads.

Slowly unfurling his fingers, Shiro looks up at the man standing before him. Keith is fire, the warmest bit of life Shiro has ever known, and he is brilliant, and he is beautiful, and these are the things he can never rightly say, but they are his immutable truths. 

When Keith grabs at his wrist, his heartbeat turns thunderous in his chest, and Shiro wonders how it is that becoming whole can put the ache right back into him.

“You’re taking me home, right?”


End file.
